Life on a boat

It was Lifeboat Day in Dunbar today, which means our house is surrounded by fairground rides and live music and the smell of hot doughnuts. Last year I didn't make it onto a boat, because Lifeboat Day 2013 was the first day I woke up with the knowledge that my sister wasn't going to get better, and my legs were too shaky to leap aboard. But today I wore my stripy rubber shoes and tucked my hair into a cotton scarf, and made it onto the very lifeboat itself.